Can You See Dust Mites With the Human Eye: Look at This
They’re everywhere. Dust mites can be a significant problem, so how do you spot them? No one wants to think about microscopic arthropods crawling all over their home. Surely there’s a way to tell if they’re around. The first question you need to ask is, how dusty is my home? If there’s a layer on top of every surface, you probably have a dust mite invasion. Since dust is made up mainly of human skin cells and dust mites eat that dead skin, you can bet that wherever there’s a shelf, fan, or TV in need of a wipedown, dust mites are feasting. I’ll explain what you need to know to detect dust mites and how to get rid of them as well. That way, you can breathe easier, knowing there are less invisible bugs hanging out where you live.
Can you see dust mites with the human eye? You cannot see dust mites with the human eye. Because they are one-quarter to one-third of a millimeter long, even if you did see them, you wouldn’t be able to identify what they are. Yet dust mites thrive almost anywhere we live. Unfortunately, we are their primary food source, although luckily, it’s only our dead skin cells they want.
Seeing Dust Mites
It’s almost impossible to see a dust mite with the human eye. At less than half a millimeter long, you wouldn’t view enough detail to know what they were even if you noticed them. Regrettably, not-seeing something doesn’t mean it’s not there.
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Did you know that dust mites can’t see you? They have no eyes and live their whole lives using other senses. Male dust mites live about a month. Meanwhile, the females can live over three times that long. Furthermore, the skin one average (adult) person sheds in a day feeds as much as a million dust mites.
Can You See Dust Mites With a Blacklight
Perhaps because we can see other insects, like scorpions easily with a backlight, this is a common question. It makes sense to think that maybe dust mites would fluoresce like other arthropods. Unfortunately, they do not.
While blacklight has no particular effect, there is a light that kills dust mites and their eggs. UV C light is excellent for destroying all sorts of undesirable small and microscopic problems. You won’t see the mites. Nevertheless, a good UV C will help get rid of them.
Will a Magnifying Glass Show Dust Mites
Do you need a microscope to see dust mites? Well, no. You can see a dust mite under a magnifying glass if the conditions are correct. However, it will require a little bit of preparation.
To see your dust mites with a magnifier, first, get a high-quality magnifying glass. Next, you’ll need a black background. Since dust mites are a sort of milky opaque color, the darker the backdrop, the better.
Finally, you need bright light. Illuminating the mites allows you to see them. If there are dust mites, you should be able just barely to identify them.
Seeing Dust Mites With a Microscope
You may have guessed that it’s easy enough to see those nasty little dust mites with a microscope. Even a children’s model should have enough power to do the job. You just need a slide with mites on it.
A piece of cotton from inside a pillow is a great place to start looking. Otherwise, carpet fibers or the dust from a ceiling fan might work. It’s not hard to find dust mites if you’re looking as it were.
Simply place the material you suspect contains dust mites on your slide. Then you need to dial in the view. Naturally, the higher the magnification, the better you’ll see the little critters. However, make sure you want to know them up close and personal before you look.
The average bed contains anywhere from a hundred thousand dust mites to millions. Since you spend a third of your life sleeping, some things are more comforting not to put a face on if you can avoid it. Moreover, sleeping on the couch won’t help. There are bound to be dust mites anywhere you shed skin, and that means on furniture, floors, or any surface that has dust.
How to Tell if You Have Dust Mites You Can’t See
Not seeing dust mites makes them harder to detect, but you can tell they’re around. For one thing, there’s very little chance your home is dust mite free. Additionally, you can smell their enzymes more strongly inside a vacuum because of the concentration.
Alarmingly, Science Daily says dust mites are the most common cause of both asthma and allergies worldwide. Hence, if you or your family have either of those issues, it could be the result of dust mites. As much as forty-five percent of childhood asthma is caused by dust mite feces and other related problems.
You can help reduce dust mites by laundering your fabrics with LivePure LP-AM-12 Anti-Mite. While hot water (over a hundred thirty degrees) can certainly kill mites, using Live Pure will help you destroy them without changing your laundry routines and temperatures. You’ll love having fewer allergies by merely adding this to a regular wash along with your usual detergent. Check out the Amazon reviews here.
If you’re wondering whether you have dust mites, there are two simple questions you can ask that will help clarify the issue. First, is your house quite literally freezing? Dust mites don’t survive long in sub-zero temperatures.
Second, is your home at least a hundred and forty degrees inside? If not, then you probably have dust mites. Furthermore, if you live in a moist climate, use humidifiers, or take a lot of hot showers, you’re making their lives easier. Humidity is a dust mite’s ideal weather.
Getting Rid of Invisible Dust Mites
You won’t see the difference, but spreading diatomaceous earth in bedding and carpets will help kill those creepy dust mites. There are plenty of ways to reduce or remove dust mites. For example, you can freeze clothing, linens, and stuffed toys.
Steam clean your furniture and carpets regularly. Moreover, you need to vacuum and dust at least once a week. Keeping pets out of your bedroom, and replacing all your bedding with hypoallergenic or allergy protection will help as well.
You can replace woven materials and carpets with less bug-friendly options. Where you can’t replace fabrics, use eucalyptus, and tea-tree oil sprays. Plus, make sure you wash all the linens, like curtains, in hot (over 130°F) water weekly.
While you’re cleaning up, I recommend a bottle of Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Spray. It’s fast-acting. More importantly, Primo Guard is kid and pet safe, and industry-approved. It offers a satisfaction guarantee. Plus, it’s stain and scent-free. You can have yours delivered when you order from Amazon here.
What Doesn’t Kill Dust Mites
You might expect that soap or bleach could destroy dust mites. Since they work on virtually everything else, that’s a sensible conclusion. Sadly, this is not the case.
You need to destroy dust mites and their eggs, or you’ll still have a problem. Because they reproduce so quickly, dust mites are a significant problem for human health. Like a virus or vascular issue, you don’t have to see dust mites for them to make you very ill.
Benefits of Dust Mites
As disturbing as dust mites are, they also perform a vital service. Humans and animals shed skin cells every day. Without something getting rid of those cells, we’d probably always be walking through a fine powder of our skin.
Does that mean you need to welcome dust mites into your home? Absolutely not. However, if they didn’t exist anywhere, we might have a problem on our hands. Especially if you’re allergic to dust mites, or suffer from allergies, asthma and other breathing troubles, then you need to reduce them around your home.
That also means you need to dust more often. Make sure you whip out that feather-duster at least once a week. Better still, vacuum twice a week with an excellent non-permeable bag or solid container vacuum that doesn’t expel dust. Then grab a good hand-vac to suck up the dust instead of using a manual duster that moves some of that mess back into the air.
Final Thoughts
Although you can’t see them with your naked eye, dust mites are all around you. A pillow that’s only a couple of years old can have up to ten percent of its weight comprised of dust mites, dead dust mites, and their droppings. That’s a disgusting thought at best.
Replacing pillows yearly, like washing your linens weekly, will help. Additionally, a good vacuum and sitting at least once a week will minimize your dust mite issues. Makes sure you don’t keep your home too humid. Plus, you can get people and pet safe insecticides to help kill them off.
Regardless, there are bound to be a few dust mites around. Luckily, you can do plenty to make your home unfriendly to these microscopic critters.